Lasting Impact

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The sophomore engineering student was exhausted and overwhelmed. At 3 that morning, when she finally left Benedum Hall after a long study session, her brain felt scrambled and her emotions seemed out of control. She always knew that earning a degree in mechanical engineering would be hard, but now she worried she was incapable of keeping up with the rigorous workload. In tears, she called her parents in eastern Pennsylvania. Just come home, her father said. The idea was tempting, but she had worked so hard to get to Pitt. She was the first in her family to attend college; could she really give up? So, SaLisa Berrien went to someone she knew would help. In the office of Associate Professor of Engineering Karl Lewis, the young woman poured out her heart. Lewis listened, then he gave Berrien a talk that she says transformed her outlook. “He said, ‘what you want is achievable,’” she recalls. “He talked me through what I needed to do and told me that everyone goes through these pressures, but that it is how you deal with them that matters most. It seemed like he believed in me more than I believed in myself.” Read the full article at Pitt Magazine.
Mark Nootbaar, Senior Writer and Editor, Institutional Advancement

Filling the Gap: Pittsburgh Promise recipients share their success stories

MEMS, Diversity, Student Profiles

Lots of people can claim that education saved their life, but in Jackie Sharp’s case, it's literal. As a high school freshman, Sharp was struck by a car running a red light two days before Christmas. Most of the impact was absorbed by the school laptop she carried in her backpack. Its screen was shot and, it turned out, so was playing hockey competitively. Doctors checking out Sharp post-accident discovered she was missing part of a vertebrae in her neck that wraps around a blood vessel going to the brain. A puncture or hit from playing contact sports could cause that to burst. So Sharp was sidelined. “Hockey was the love of my life, and I was devastated,” she said. “A really good friend said, ‘Why don’t you join the robotics team?’ And I fell in love with engineering.” Read the full story (with subscription) at the Pittsburgh Business Times.
Author: Patty Tascarella, Senior Reporter, Pittsburgh Business Times